If any man builds on this foundation (Jesus Christ), using gold, silver, precious stones, wood, hay or straw what will happen?
How reliable is gold? Is it valuable? How will gold do when tested by fire?
Gold has been known and highly valued since time began. Gold is a chemical element with the symbol Au (Latin: aurum) and atomic number 79. It is a highly sought-after precious metal, having been used as money, as a store of value, in jewelry, in sculpture, and for ornamentation since the beginning of recorded history.
Gold is dense, soft, shiny and the most malleable and ductile pure metal known. Pure gold has a bright yellow color and luster and considered attractive, which it maintains without rusting in air or water.
Gold has withstood the "acid test" for its genuine value.
Gold is the most malleable and ductile of all metals; a single gram can be beaten into a sheet of one square meter, or an ounce into 300 square feet. Gold leaf can be beaten thin enough to become translucent. Gold is a good conductor of heat and electricity and reflects infra red radiation strongly. Chemically, it is unaffected by air, moisture and most corrosive reagents, and is therefore well-suited for use in coins and jewelry and as a protective coating on other, more reactive, metals.
So with that description, I would say gold is a highly precious material to build with.
It is costly. Gold is now selling around a $1000 an ounce.
The builder's work will be tested by fire. Will gold withstand the fire and still maintain its value? Yes it will. Gold has proven the test.
What about silver as a building material? Is silver valuable? Will it withstand the fire?
Silver like gold has been around since time began. It is valued as a precious metal, used to make ornaments, jewelry, high-value tableware and utensils. Silver is a very ductile and malleable (slightly harder than gold) monovalent coinage metal with a brilliant white metallic luster that can take a high degree of polish. It has the highest electrical conductivity.
Gemstones have no universally accepted grading systems other than white (colorless) diamond. Diamonds are meant to sparkle and radiate rainbow colors. This is a function of cut. In its rough crystalline form, a diamond will do none of these things, it requires proper fashioning and this is called "cut". In gemstones that have color, including colored diamonds, it is the purity and beauty of that color that is the primary determinant of quality.
Heat can improve gemstone color or clarity. Much aquamarine is heat treated to remove yellow tones, change the green color into the more desirable blue or enhance its existing blue color to a purer blue. A considerable portion of all sapphire and ruby is treated with a variety of heat treatments to improve both color and clarity.
The diamond should be protected with boracic acid; otherwise the diamond (which is pure carbon) could be burned on the surface or even burned completely up. When jewelry containing sapphires or rubies is heated (for repairs) it should not be coated with boracic acid or any other substance, as this can etch the surface; it does not have to be "protected" like a diamond.
It appears most precious gemstones can withstand some degree of heat.
What about wood?
Wood fuels a fire. It would most like burn rather quickly. Then is it obvious that hay and straw would immediately be consumed by fire.
How can our works relate to gold, silver, precious stones, wood, hay and straw?
Stop fooling yourselves. If you think you are wise by this world's standards, you will have to become a fool so you can become wise by God's standards. For the wisdom of this world is foolishness to God. As the Scriptures say,
"God catches those who think they are wise in their own cleverness."
And again, " The Lord knows the thoughts of the wise, that they are worthless."
"So don't take pride in following a particular leader. Everything belongs to you. Paul and Apollos and Peter; the whole world and life and death; the present and the future. Everything belongs to you, and you belong to Christ and Christ belongs to God."
First Corinthians 3: 11-23
Paul said, "Christ didn't send me to baptize but to preach the Good News and not with clever speeches and high sounding ideas, for fear that the cross of Christ would lose its power. First Corinthians 1:17 NLT
"Don't you know that you yourselves are God's temple and that God's Spirit lives in you? If anyone destroys God's temple, God will destroy him; for God's temple is sacred, and you are that temple."
First Corinthians 3:16 NIV
